Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Cosmic Enlightenment
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The sun and the moon. One is the king of day, the other the queen of night.
Long ago, people thought of them as the heavenly couple. They seemed almost the same size, a perfectly matched pair. Of course, the moon is nothing but a tiny satellite, far too small to even compare to the sun. Not a spouse—barely fit to be a servant.
"Ah."
Far, far away, the sun and moon that had appeared the same size now stretched toward Roca, adrift in the empty void of space. The closer they came, the truer their scale became.
First, the moon swept past her. Its gentle pull tugged at Roca. It was shocking that this pockmarked, hole-riddled crater was the same beautiful moon she'd seen before.
"Th-this is the moon?"
The child who'd believed rabbits lived on the far side was stunned by the revealed truth. The pitted back, like a pockmarked face, held not even a single ant, let alone a rabbit.
This was a dead star. A dead satellite. No life anywhere.
The moon's surface was nothing like the beauty seen from the night sky. The realization struck the child deeply.
Yet this ugly face of the moon was, in a way, proof of sacrifice. Suddenly, a comet trailing blazing fire streaked past Roca from the heavens. Her pupils dilated at its destination.
She hadn't seen many gems, but she knew for certain.
There lay the most beautiful, most precious jewel of all. Seventy percent ocean, thirty percent land. Roca stared in awe at the gem called Pyros.
That was everyone's home.
That was everyone's world.
Within that beautiful star unfolded all the joys and sorrows of existence, only to fade away. Pyros, twinkling with the light called life, was alive.
But now a white comet hurtled toward it, about to unleash an unprecedented catastrophe. The comet, laden with destructive energy, plunged toward Pyros like the deadliest arrow.
Boom!
Yet before it could breach Pyros, it collided with the moon. No sound reached her, but a majestic spectacle unfolded before her eyes.
The ground flipped, dust clouds rose. Had it struck Pyros, the loss of life would have been unimaginable. But the dead satellite, the moon, absorbed the comet without a scratch. Just one more jagged crater—that was all.
"The moon... it's blocking the meteors for us. Our shield."
Why am I seeing this? What is Kamira doing right now?
No such questions arose. The universe had gently lifted its veil, revealing its secrets. The cosmic truth was so shocking, so staggering, that merely comprehending it overwhelmed Roca. To her, it was no mere curiosity.
Roca, the child who wielded the magic of sun and moon, knew nothing of either. Was she alone in her ignorance? Most people, unless astronomers, knew little of the heavens' mysteries.
The priests of the church serving the Celestial God Aldheir possessed vast astronomical knowledge, but they kept those secrets among themselves. Even they would never get this close to the moon in their lifetimes.
"Ah...!"
Suddenly, Roca's gaze turned to Pyros. Its oceans bulged slightly toward the moon—the gravitational pull yanking at the seas was plain to see. Of course, the tides weren't caused by gravity alone, but without the moon, that force would weaken dramatically.
"The moon is pulling the ocean."
The phenomenon was far more complex in reality, but grasping that much was enough. Seeing the moon's true face, even partially, felt like gaining true insight.
But as the moon passed and the sun approached, Roca realized her "insight" was nothing. The blazing sun loomed with a mass beyond comparison to anything she knew.
One could say no ground-dweller had ever truly seen the sun. This time, the girl was too awestruck to even gasp. Here, everything dwarfed the continent a hundredfold. All she could utter were short "Wow... wow"s.
Two black funnel-like sunspots pierced the sun's outer edge, swirling through the chromosphere. Crimson prominences raced across the surface faster than anything on earth.
The sheer power it held was in a league so far beyond that fear itself didn't register. No human force could even compare.
Roca's jaw dropped at the gas clouds rotating like living things. Unlike the silent, dead moon, this sun pulsed with life-like dynamism.
Jagged gas arms formed spiral nebulae, whirlwinds that could swallow a hundred Pyros. Rivers of flame surged at impossible scales and speeds.
Amid it all, something mottled and red emerged, writhing like a living creature. Even at its smallest estimate, it dwarfed the continent.
If Roca's eyes could see electromagnetic waves, she'd have witnessed far more, but in visible light, it resembled a fireball. A blazing orb of light.
Whoosh!
It shuddered on the sun's surface. Somehow, Roca thought it akin to shivering in the cold. Absurd, of course. That was the sun's surface.
She'd never been there, never would, couldn't, and had no desire to—but its heat was obvious at a glance. Cold there? Ridiculous.
"Is it... alive...?"
Yet like a worm burrowing into an apple, it twisted and sank deep into the sun, fleeing as if from the chill.
Was it some spirit? Did the sun have spirits too?
One thing was clear: the sun was no dead star.
Roca's gaze shook as she watched the flame writhe, defying its surroundings like the living. Then it narrowed—from vast cosmos to a single bathroom.
It all vanished like a dream upon waking. Unlike a dream, though, the memories lingered vividly even after she awoke.
Kamira jabbed a finger at the girl, her expression unchanged.
She'd seen none of what Roca had, but spotting the shattered crimson stone, she flew into a rage.
"You... how did you break that necklace? Did that bastard Ollok sell me a defective product? How is this even possible?!"
The storm of vicious magic from the shattered crimson stone had kept Kamira at bay briefly. It bought Roca a moment.
She quickly checked her condition. No changes—same as before.
Sun mana depleted. Mana drained suppressing the bloodflame.
Only the moon's mana remained intact, but it wasn't enough to beat Kamira. It was as if the gods had given her nothing.
Naturally, Kamira seethed, preparing to seize Roca again. No mere necklace this time—she'd bind her far more securely, raving all the while.
"I'm not running."
Faced with the triumphant young lady, the wolf steeled her resolve.
A new fire gleamed in her eyes. Twice caught after fleeing was enough. A third time, tail between her legs, and she'd spend her life running.
"Never again."
Even if terror shook her to the core, sometimes one had to charge.
This was that moment. Only with mortal resolve did the girl realize her gain. No matter how strong Kamira was, could she surpass the blazing sun?
She had witnessed what no human could in a lifetime.
The sun's true form shattered every common sense and scale Roca knew. When sun and moon shed their veils, revealing themselves, her mastery of mana advanced a step—from shaping it to intuiting its essence.
The Ardaine Princess wielded mana aura in dragon form, but that was mere imperial technique. Not Roca's path, nor one she should follow.
Consider: what form could contain sun mana? Look to the morning sky. Yes—the sun itself. Sun mana need only take the sun's shape!
By the same logic, she began grasping how to handle moon mana.
The sole remaining moon mana writhed within her, the moon's pockmarked back lingering in her mind. After all, she was the only one in the world to see it firsthand.
"The sun is the sun, the moon is the moon. The answer wasn't in some complicated place."
Sometimes, the most natural path is the profoundest.
The moon mana condensed into its purest, most natural form. Untainted by impurities, the moon's shape took hold within her.
"Sweep them in, Blood Sea!"
Kamira gestured again. A crimson tide surged to the ceiling.
The fierce waves roared in. No sun mana left to counter. Seeing the onslaught, Roca recalled the ocean—and the moon that pulled it.
The girl cried out coldly, in a single word.
"Pull."
The Full Moon surged upward. Laughably small compared to the real thing, but unmistakably a moon.
It was as if the night sky's full moon had descended above her. As it poured forth ecstatic moonlight, immense tidal force erupted. The moon pulled at the blood sea.
Tiny as dust next to the true moon, yet Kamira's blood sea was a mere droplet against a real ocean. Thus, the raging blood waves couldn't resist the pull—they were drawn in.
"Wh-what? What is this...!"
Born of direct sight and insight, the perfected moon form drew in blood from all sides. Blood waves, blood sea, blood mist, blood wind—all succumbed to the tidal force.
Blood seeped into the bright full moon, turning it a crimson Blood Moon. As Blood Moon Dominion approached, bloody haze shimmered everywhere—yet not a drop remained in the bath. The ravenous moon had devoured every trace.
Gulp!
Then Roca opened wide and swallowed the moon whole. Inside her, blood-attuned mana—the bloodforce—bubbled furiously. Kamira's eyes bulged at the madness.
Has that girl lost her mind? Not even a vampire, just swallowing that?
She'd overload on blood mana and explode, right? Her blood would rampage uncontrollably—so why?
"Grgh..."
Kamira sneered at Roca's agonized form. The wolf had overreached, biting off more than she could chew, and now paid the price.
Beasts will be beasts. As she laughed to speak, Roca's eyes snapped open. Crimson flame flickered between her pupils, and between her hands blazed a lump of searing heatflame!
She'd burned the swallowed blood mana as fuel for the sun. Reckless, yes—days of recovery ahead.
But slaying the foe before her? Afterthoughts could wait. The sun. A brilliantly shining sun took form between Roca's hands.
"That's...?!"
Kamira paled at the manifesting orb, turning to flee—but too late.
Deceive the heavens, swap out the sun! Heaven-Deceiving Sun Swap blazed forth. In that instant, it was daytime here. Smaller than a coin, yet undeniably the sun!
The moment the radiant sun touched her, Kamira realized the truth. The sun she'd desperately mocked out of fear—she'd always dreaded and revered it.
"N-no... Suuuun!!!"
Bathed in sunlight, the woman who'd deemed herself special learned she was mere ash. Some enlightenments come only when irreversible.
The sun decreed impartial doom. To lesser vampires or purebloods alike, it was ever fair.
Crackle. With the sound, a pile of ash crumbled. A tiger leaves its hide in death; the naked woman left only cinders.
Sunlight exploded outward, sweeping all. A candle lights a room—what of a tiny sun? It lasted but a moment, yet illuminated everything before fading.
Sizzle...
Roca had meant to hurl it at Kamira, but strength failed before then.
She staggered, then collapsed. Today had brought too much for the child.
But she'd won. No flight—she'd triumphed. So she was glad.
"Roca, Roca! ...Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness. Yeah, just rest for now. You're not badly hurt, thank goodness..."
Moments after she fell, the princess and Kyle—drawn by the sunlight—found her. The child slept peacefully, a faint smile on her lips. Today, she'd overcome a piece of her past.
It felt like a deep slumber filled with pleasant dreams.
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